Latvijas Finieris has developed for its RIGA birch plywood a new green glue RIGA ECOlogical, where bio-based renewable lignin to a significant extent is used as replacement of the traditional fossil phenol. This technological breakthrough reached in cooperation with joint development partner Stora Enso, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
“We always do our maximum, to offer our customers the latest product solutions and technology. But our gluing technology development where Stora Enso kraft lignin Lineo™ is being used is even more,” explains Latvijas Finieris Executive Board Member Mārtiņš Lācis. “It reduces carbon footprint of RIGA plywood from production to its end-uses, offering to RIGA customers a significant competitive advantage in the increasingly green business environment.”
Production reports, together with industrial end-users’ trials in their own production line, show that all technical properties of RIGA plywood remain unchanged when applying this new, more environmentally friendly lignin gluing technology. Latvijas Finieris intention is to gradually launch plywood products glued with green RIGA ECOlogical within year 2019.
“We have studied the possibility of replacing Fossil-Based Phenol with Sustainable Bio-Based Lignin in our glue since some years already,” Mārtiņš Lācis said. “Lignin is a recyclable and ecologically friendly product, abundantly available in the entire world in trees and plants. Therefore, it has recently become important subject to active research, to develop new and more sophisticated uses for it. This rising technological wave with most promising results belongs today to the world’s megatrends.”
Latvijas Finieris is one of the largest birch plywood producing companies in the world with production in all Baltic countries and in Finland.
